The Peony's Ghost

[Intro]
[Verse]
Dust motes dance in the light
Gilded edges shining bright
Shelves of leather and of bone
I am sitting here alone
Pulling Keats from the row
Where the heavy shadows grow
[Pre-Chorus]
Something slips from the spine
Like a secret left behind
Paper thin and brittle red
Words that never will be said
[Chorus]
Oh, little peony, sleeping in the ink
More than a century, I stop to think
Who held your stem so tight?
In the soft and morning light
A stranger’s secret kept in gold
A story never to be told
[Post-Chorus]
Whisper in the library
Echoes of a memory
Softly, softly now
I make a silent vow
[Verse]
Nylon strings hum a tune
In this quiet afternoon
Nineteen-twenty on the page
Wisdom of a different age
Was she waiting for a sign?
Tracing every single line
[Pre-Chorus]
The celesta starts to ring
Hear the velvet shadows sing
Petals turned to silver dust
In a world of quiet trust
[Chorus]
Oh, little peony, sleeping in the ink
More than a century, I stop to think
Who held your stem so tight?
In the soft and morning light
A stranger’s secret kept in gold
A story never to be told
[Bridge]
Did you love with all your soul?
Did the seasons take their toll?
Oboe wails a lonely note
Words she never even wrote
In this manor made of stone
You are never quite alone
[Chorus]
Oh, little peony, sleeping in the ink
More than a century, I stop to think
Who held your stem so tight?
In the soft and morning light
A stranger’s secret kept in gold
A story never to be told
[Post-Chorus]
Whisper in the library
Echoes of a memory
Softly, softly now
I make a silent vow
[Outro]